Kiss The Past Hello: 100 Years of The Coca-Cola Bottle

Assouline Publishing uncaps the 100-year history of the Coca-Cola bottle in their limited edition book.

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

To celebrate the iconic Coke bottle’s centennial, Coca-Cola has launched a yearlong campaign featuring art exhibitions, song releases, and the Assouline Publishing book, Kiss The Past Hello: 100 Years of The Coca-Cola Bottle. This limited edition tome uncovers the rich history of the quintessential American drink through a compilation of photographs and paintings inspired by or featuring the famous bottle. With a foreword by esteemed British author, journalist, and cultural critic, Stephen Bayley, this fascinating book encapsulates the significant cultural and historical impact the Coca-Cola bottle has had on America. Below, Urban Agenda lets you take a sneak peak of the 100 years of greatness collected into this book, along with Stephen Bayley’s thoughtful forward (courtesy of Assouline Publishing).

Foreword by Stephen Bayley:

“One of the most famous and unmistakable shapes in the world since its introduction in 1915, the Coca-Cola bottle is an influential symbol of design, art, and culture. Identified by its iconic contour fluted lines and described by noted industrial designer, Raymond Loewy as the “perfect liquid wrapper,” the bottle has been celebrated and revered in such mediums as art, music and advertising. From representations as a symbol of mass culture expressed by greats like Andy Warhol and Clive Barker to serving as a reference point for industry influencers such as Volkswagen who compared the shape of the Beetle to the bottle, the Coca-Cola bottle has been a benchmark for the past hundred years. What began as a design brief: to create a bottle that could be identified in the dark or lying broken on the ground, today is one of the most recognized packages on the planet. Published on the occasion of the bottle’s centennial, Kiss the Past Hello is a vibrant collection of images and art celebrating the Coca-Cola bottle not only as an icon of design but as a symbol of optimism, happiness, and the shared moments in our lives.”